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Topic: regular beer line up (Read 2688 times)

I have three I like to keep on tap. A Coffee Stout, A Dry Hopped Red, and for my wife a very hoppy IPA. I like to brew more than I can drink. About a year ago I was talking with a co worker about brewing and he asked if I could brew up something for him. He told me what he likes and I proceeded to make it. I was lucky that he was able to articulate what he liked and didn't about each batch. So I could make changes. After about five he tells me I nailed it. THEN I needed to reproduce that each time. It was amazing how hard that can be. But it is incredibly fun.

I was looking back through my brewing log and found that I brew pretty much the same beers at the same time every year. I don't plan it that way, but for some reason about the same time every year I think, "Boy, X beer would be good."

I've got 5 taps but I'm not really trying to get 5 good beers in rotation. My English IPA is pretty much where I want it, my saison is decent and there is always a APA on tap but I am still switching the hops around frequently and I don't know if I will ever settle on just one combination. The other two taps are for more infrequent beers. I've got a coffee porter and a lager on them now but who knows what is going to come next. One is a 3 gal keg and I will likely move that to cider when the weather gets warmer. I can't see me ever settling down to just 5 consistent styles. Likely will have the first 3 on in some iteration and then rotate to whatever my tastes feel would be good at the time.

I have a 4-tap keg fridge, and this year I really took the time to plan out my seasonal rotations. I try to keep four main categories on tap: Light, Amber, Dark, and Hoppy. I'm also brewing "specialty" beers once or twice a year, typically strong beers for bottling and extended aging.

This gives me lots of wiggle room to play with different styles but still have a good variety on hand. So here's my seasonal lineup for the coming year. This is my brewing schedule, so you can extrapolate it out a bit to think of the drinking schedule. I'll probably alter the lineup for next year but follow this general format. I've been really pleased with the recipes in BCS so far, so that's the resource I'm using to explore a lot of the styles I'm not too familiar with.

I have a 4-tap keg fridge, and this year I really took the time to plan out my seasonal rotations. I try to keep four main categories on tap: Light, Amber, Dark, and Hoppy. I'm also brewing "specialty" beers once or twice a year, typically strong beers for bottling and extended aging.

I like this approach and it's similar to what I do. My main rotation is Cream Ale (light), California Common (Amber), and Foreign Extra Stout (dark). I substitute in different beers depending on my mood (e.g. CAP for Cream Ale).

I brew my IPA, Pilsner, Amber a few times per year, everything else listed most likely annually, and then I try to have 4-5 things on my list to brew for the year that are different from my usual cast.

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The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

Very much like you I've come to a point where my "everything and kitchen sink" beer experiments are slowing down and I'm enjoying a good ESB or Pils. I always keep on tap an ESB, and Irish Red (for my good friend and boss), and an experimental beer of the week.

I brew my IPA, Pilsner, Amber a few times per year, everything else listed most likely annually, and then I try to have 4-5 things on my list to brew for the year that are different from my usual cast.

I was looking back through my brewing log and found that I brew pretty much the same beers at the same time every year. I don't plan it that way, but for some reason about the same time every year I think, "Boy, X beer would be good."

I do this as well, but for me it is driven by seasonal temperatures. Since it is the dead of Winter, I am brewing lagers. I just brewed my Czech Dark Lager to the day a year after the last one. Before I grasped that my beer just wasn't all that good when made in the summer, I would brew anything at any point in the year. This lead me to some mediocre results, but the good thing that occurred is that I experimented with a lot of different malts/hops/yeasts. Now, I have a pretty good grasp on what I like and why, allowing me to more intelligently design recipes. This includes when I should brew something.

I also had a goal of buying fewer ingredients last year, and I think making a schedule, and brewing regulars helps with that.

This is the hardest yet probably best thing I think I could do as a brewer. I do have a few recipes I have done 3 or 4 times, but that was me just also trying to dial in my system. Each time the beers have come out different and perhaps flawed due to one reason or another. I really want to make a rocking American Wheat so I can add fruit to it each time and it doesnt get boring.

I have a very short list of beers I have brewed multiple times. I have too many different styles I want to try brewing. Every time I think, "okay, this is the year I am going to hone down a few recipes to always keep on hand," I end up coming up with too many other beers I want to brew. Heck, I'm already thinking into 2015 projects.

Ideally I would like to hone a set of recipes so each year I produce a couple of the same beers each season, one really big beer for the year, and a couple sour beers, and then 3-4 random other beers. That would be about one brew per month.

I spent 2-3 years brewing just about everything, at a rate of about one batch a week. Exhausting, but I figured out what I really enjoy and what I'm good at so I think it was worth it.

that time is over now, mostly successful with a few spectacular failures as exceptions (haven't made a passable 11B yet and no plans to do so). I spend most of my effort making the same fairly dry and somewhat to very bitter lagers, hybrids, and ales. 1E, 2A, 4C, 6C, 10B, 12B, 14B, 16B. Experimentation at this point is mostly on the mead/cider fronts and the occasional weird saison.

I have pretty much settled on these beers as "regulars". I probably won't brew each one that often but 3 of them should be on tap at any one time. I figure I have years and years to develop the recipes and make them consistent and delicious. I have brewed 3 of the 5 at least 3 times up to this point.

Session AleBlonde with lime and lemongrassAmerican WheatOatmeal Pale AleKolsch with American hops